From Sunday, July 26th, for five weeks, Mooney Goes Wild will be broadcast live between 10am and 11am. A new five-part series, Mooney Goes Wild - Habitats, will be broadcast on Sunday nights from 10pm-11pm.

Friday, June 14th 2013

Mooney

Neil Delamere with his unique mix of conversation, information, advice and entertainment

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On Mooney Goes Wild, with Neil Delamere...

It's been a turbulent week in the bluetit nest, with two confirmed fatalities, and the struggle for survival continuing. Richard Collins on why the fable of "the boy who cried wolf" is every bit as true for the animal kingdom. And, in the company of Fergus McAuliffe, newly-crowned world champion science communicator, we discuss the remarkable wood frog, which can freeze itself to survive the winter, and thaw again in spring!

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Thanks To The DSPCA!

We receive tons of e-mails every week from listeners about birds, mammals, amphibians, insects - pretty much every branch of the animal kingdom is covered in the communications we receive.

We are, it seems, a nation of animal lovers. And from time to time, it's worth paying tribute to those voluntary organisations who spend their lives looking after animals in distress.

So we have to thank Niamh Breslin, one of our listeners, for reminding us of the great work these organisations do. Earlier this week, Niamh sent us the following e-mail:

Hi Derek

We live in the inner city in Dublin in a terraced house, much like Coronation Street. Seagulls have nested in my neighbour's chimney pot for the second year in a row, and although they are only seagulls, it gave great pleasure to the people here to watch the chicks pop in and out as their parents watched protectively.

Last Saturday, it was discovered that the cats had launched a raid, a chick was knocked down from the chimney stack, and all we could see were the chick's legs in the air in the roof gully. We didn’t know if it was alive and couldn’t reach it. He was like that all day, then later that evening, he fell down and luckily landed on rubbish bags.

We got him in a container to save him from the cats not knowing how injured he was. And amazingly, after all that, once inside, he stood up and started making noises!

As it was the weekend, we had to let him take over the bath, the only place to put him with a cat in the house. We celotaped 2 plastic spoons together and used the handles like a beak to feed him, to keep him going. And god, are they messy and noisey creatures?!

Anyway I rang the DSPCA first thing this morning and they came within a couple of hours despite being very busy after the weekend.

So 'nipper', as my daughter called him, is going to be cared for with another chick found in the same circumstances, until big enough to fly.

We had been worried he wouldn’t be taken as he's "only an oul' seagull".

So we would like to give a big thanks to the DSPCA for all the work they do, regardless of the type of creature to be helped, and remind people that’s what they do tirelessly, day in day out.

Especially in these times, it must be so difficult to raise money so if you can help out do!

Niamh Breslin

If you'd like to find out more about the work of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, you can visit their website: www.dspca.ie.

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NestWatch 2013

Yesterday saw our first fatality in the Blue Tit nestbox, and it would appear that today, another young chick has perished. Jim Wilson is in our Cork studio today to take us through what has been a very dramatic week for our Blue Tit family... Click here to watch all the action from the Blue Tit nestbox.

The dead chick lying upside down at the top of the nestbox

The mother continues to feed the other young chicks

The mother tries to remove the dead chick from the nest

Both parents help to feed their remaining chicks

The female Blue Tit with four of the five remaining chicks

Our five chicks with their mother; picture taken at 1:30pm today

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Patriotic Loggerhead Turtles

"Patriotism" is an emotion we would probably regard as particularly human - the idea that you feel a special bond to the place of your birth.

Animals, on the other hand, don't recognise boundaries. So you would imagine that notions of patriotism are probably completely alien to them...

Not so, it seems! Not if you consider the lifestyles of loggerhead turtles.

Loggerhead turtles are small, marine turtles. They hatch on beaches across the world's three major oceans, and then spend a lifetime roaming those oceans. But bizarrely, the females of the species ALWAYS return to the place of their birth to lay their eggs, and give rise to a new generation.

And we are delighted that Dr. Christophe Eizaguirre, one of the leaders of the team, has taken the time to join us today, from a studio in Kiel!

Dr. Christophe Eizaguirre

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Buttercup Burn

Because of the cold spring, lots of things are blooming a little later this year, like the buttercup. This year seems to be a bumper year for them!

And although the buttercup is a pretty little wildflower and brightens up our landscape, it should maybe come with a 'health warning'...

The ISPCA notified us this week of a case of "Buttercup Burn" on one of their horses.

It turns out that there is an irritant in the sap of the buttercup which can affect horses with pink or white noses, or white markings.

So to find out more, Mooney reporter Katriona McFadden paid a visit to the affected horse at the ISPCA headquarters in Longford and met Equine Supervisor Cathy Griffin…

Beth, the Buttercup Burn-afflicted horse

If you are interested in fostering or adopting a horse you can contact the ISPCA - their website is www.ispca.ie.

And if you think your horse is suffering from Buttercup Burn, you should take it out of the affected field and contact your vet for advice.

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Science Communication & The Wood Frog

Mooney Goes Wild has always taken great pride in keeping up with the latest advances in science and nature research. In fact, more and more TV and radio shows are emerging nowadays, doing the same thing - communicating science to the masses.

Traditionally, science and communication have not been the greatest of bedfellows. But let's face it, no matter how remarkable a discovery, no matter how advanced a piece of scientific research, if the scientists involved can’t communicate their ideas, they are going nowhere.

So, in recent years, there's been a huge focus on "science communication", as a goal in itself.

And our next guest, Fergus McAuliffe, is one of the best in the business.

Fergus is a postgraduate researcher at University College Cork. And earlier this year, he became the Irish "science communication" champion.

Last Saturday, he was in the UK, competing at the Famelab World Science Communication Competition, in Cheltenham. And guess what?

He walked away with the world title!

Fergus McAuliffe is our Cork studio today to tell us about taking part in the competition, in which he had three minutes talk about his chosen subject: the wood frog!

The wood frog (Rana sylvatica) has a very strange strange physiology - it has the capacity to freeze solid over winter while remaining alive and capable of 'defrosting' and continuing its lifecycle in Spring!

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App Article: Crying Wolf (by Richard Collins)

Dr. Richard Collins is the author of this week's app article, in which he tells us all about a bird neighbourhood watch scheme, and the emergency alarms systems they use!

Birds and politicians need to get their messages out while, at the same time, covering their tracks. Openness and transparency are commendable but they have a downside. A bird seeing a cat, for example, wants to warn the neighbours. If it calls out, however, it will draw attention to itself, not a good idea with an enemy on the prowl. Keeping quiet seems the wiser option.

To find out more, download the Mooney app, for iPhone and Android phones, to read the rest of Richard's article, and much more!

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NestWatch 2013: Blue Tits

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Patriotic Loggerhead Turtles

Neil talks to Dr. Christophe Eizaguirre, an evolutionary biologist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, and leader of research team who discovered female loggerheads return to the same location to lay eggs each year...

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Science Communication & Frozen Wood Frogs

Neil talks to Fergus McAuliffe, postgraduate researcher at UCC, and winner of the world title at the Famelab World Science Communication Competition; Fergus spoke about the North American wood frog, who survive the winter by freezing themselves, then thawing out in the spring...

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Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.